Long Island City advances to title game

At one Queens school, football is still at a fever pitch, championship dreams still a distinct possibility, even a formality in some minds.
As the rest of the borough shifts their hopes and dreams to basketball season - the PSAL's new divisions, the top ranked Christ the King teams and the many stars, from Cardozo's James Southerland to Holy Cross's Sylvan Landesberg - football is still king at Long Island City, for at least another week, anyway.
As scrimmages were held and practices run amidst the chill of a cold November afternoon, the No. 1 Bulldogs celebrated a playoff victory with numerous Gatorade showers for players and coaches. &#8220It's nice to be the one team in Queens,” LIC Coach Steven Agresti said, &#8220still playing football.”
The 14-8 opening-round win over No. 4 Evander Childs was atypical of LIC's dominant season in the Cup Division, yet still joyous. They dropped a pair of certain touchdown passes, quarterback Haris Lekaj struggled, and they allowed the Tigers to run for 245 yards, yielding a late score that made a once double-digit lead seem vulnerable.
With dynamic sophomore wide receiver Troy Walker sidelined with a slight concussion, the Bulldogs needed to find a way to eat up the clock. The high-powered offense suddenly morphed into smashmouth football with halfbacks Nick Torres and Omar Mohran pounding the ball for 32 yards and moving the chains three times.
Evander Childs (7-4) eventually regained possession, but with just 16 seconds remaining. Juan Lu Jimenez, playing safety for the first time in place of Walker, intercepted Chris Johnson's pass, starting the party. &#8220When I saw the ball in the air, I just went to it,” he said. &#8220It went right into my hands. Thank God I caught the ball. … I don't even know what to say right now.”
That was fine; Jimenez's performance did enough talking. He got the Bulldogs started by hauling in a 53-yard touchdown pass from Lekaj on LIC's first play from scrimmage. &#8220Quietly, every week, every practice, Juan has a great outing,” Agresti said. &#8220He comes out here and plays hard.”
LIC (11-0) is now a win away from completing the challenge Lekaj set forth at the start of the season. Lekaj, the team captain, was upset when the coaches agreed to move down to the 14-team Cup Division, the lowest level of PSAL football, after last season's disappointing 1-8 campaign.
&#8220I took it personally as an insult,” he recalled. &#8220I told my teammates this is the year, we're winning every single game. No one is going to stop us. Everybody was just looking at me, like ‘what is he saying? We have a whole lot of new kids.' After that first game, everybody got it.”
&#8220I think we all believed him,” Mohran said of the speech. &#8220He wasn't just saying it. And now we have one more game to go.”